James Potter and the Furry Little Problem
by cedwardissomine
Summary: It's James Potter's first years at Hogwarts. He makes new friends and enemies. What happens when he encounters one of the most feared creatures of wizardkind? Rated T for language and violence, which comes later on.
1. I'm Going To Hogwarts

"Mum

"Mum! Dad!" shouted 11 year old James Potter excitedly, brandishing a letter addressed to him, which he'd picked up off the floor after the postman delivered the mail.

"What is it, bub?" asked Mrs Potter, smiling at her son as he ran into the living room, where his parents were having coffee.

James held up his letter, literally bouncing with excitement. "It's my letter from Hogwarts!" he shouted with glee. Then he frowned. " _Mum!" _he wailed. _"Don't _call me _bub_!"

Mr Potter chucked with amusement. "Okay, son, let's see that letter, then, shall we?"

James nodded, and sat on the comfortable leather couch, squeezing in between his parents.

"_Dear Mr Potter,"_read Mr Potter aloud. _"We are pleased to inform you that you do NOT have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as we do not take skinny brats with messy hair-"_

"Hey!" Mr Potter was cut off by James, who glared at his dad. "That's not _really_ what the letter says, is it?"

"What do you mean?" asked Mr Potter, feigning innocence. "Of course that's what the letter says!"

"Da-ad!" said James, impatiently. "I wanna read it by myself now. In my room."

"Jamesy," said his mum. "Daddy's just joking. Aren't you, Dad?" asked Mrs Potter to her husband.

Mr Potter sighed. "Yes, I guess I am. Okay, I'll read the letter properly now, okay?"

James nodded eagerly, and listened to his Dad attentively.

* * *

On the 25th of August, James stood in between his Mum and Dad in Diagon Alley. He'd been here before, of course, when he went with his older brother, Joseph, when he was a first year, and James had begged to come with him. This was two years ago. Exactly a year ago, Joseph had been involved in a serious accident involving a burning cauldron, and was tragically killed.

The whole Potter family was shook up by the incident, and only recently had things started getting back to normal.

"I wanna get a wand!" said James enthusiastically.

"We need to get some money out of our vault first," said Mrs Potter, referring to the wizard bank Gringotts.

"Oh yeah," said James, now looking less enthusiastic. The goblins and dark tunnels of Gringotts creeped him out.

"How 'bout I go in there and I'll meet you two at Ollivander's?" asked Mr Potter to his wife and son.

Mrs Potter nodded. "Okay. See you in half an hour."

Mr Potter turned away and walked to Gringotts.

Mrs Potter smiled at her son. "Okay, now let's get you a wand."

James grinned. "Yeah! I want eleven inches, just like my—"

"_James!_" hissed Mrs Potter, as they entered Ollivander's.

"Good morning, Mr Ollivander," greeted Mrs Potter.

"Mrs Potter," said Ollivander, then glanced down at her at James. "Wand for your boy, I presume?"

"Yes, that's right," said Mrs Potter.

"Very well, then. I'll take his measurements and present him with a suitable wand," said Ollivander, already Summoning his measuring tape.

When James was done being measured, Ollivander turned to the shelves piled with wands in their boxes, and pulled one out at the bottom shelf.

"Mahogany and phoenix tail, thirteen inches. Just give it a bit of a wave."

James took the wand and waved it. A single pink rose appeared there, apparently conjured by James himself.

"Oh, bravo, Mr Potter, bravo! That's the wand for you. That'll be 50 Galleons, then," Ollivander said.

Mrs Potter handed the money over. "Thankyou, Mr Ollivander."

As James and his mum walked out of the shop into the sunshine, a warm feeling spread over him. He looked at the wand he held in his hand. His very own wand. He suddenly felt both excited and scared at the thought of the power he would have once he mastered using his wand. He'd heard of Grindelward, the evil wizard whose reign of terror only reached Europe. Even so, he killed hundreds of people. Then James thought of Dumbledore, the good, kind wizard who'd defeated Grindelwald just last year.

By comparing those two extraorinary wizards, James realised that he had a choice. A choice to become good or evil. Since James looked up to Dumbledore, he decided he'd wanted to become good. There was no way he'd actually live up to Dumbledore's great achievement, though, but he could try.

"So, how about we go to Flourish & Blotts to buy your books?"

James nodded eagerly. "Yeah!" He walked alongside his mum, chattering happily along the way.

Twenty minutes later, James and his mum walked out of Flourish & Blotts, Mrs Potter wheeling their trolley occupied by spellbooks.

Mrs Potter spied her husband walking towards them, taking three small sacks of what she assumed was wizard's money.

"How'd you go getting a wand?" Mr Potter asked his son, grinning.

James grinned happily, and held his new wand out for his father to see.

"Hmm," said Mr Potter, pretending to examine the wand. "Yes, yes, _very_ good," and he handed the wand back to James, who looked puzzled.

"He cast his very first spell," said Mrs Potter, proudly, beaming at her son.

"Oh yeah, I did!" said James excitedly. "I waved it, then out of nowhere came a pink flower." Then his face fell. "Oh, mum, I was gonna give it to you but I forgot."

Mrs Potter smiled. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure there'll be plenty more flowers where that came from."

"Can we go to Florean Fortescue's?" asked James.

"Not yet," said Mrs Potter. "We should finish shopping, first. Next, to Madam Malkin's for school robes."

Mr Potter echoed James' groan as Mrs Potter led them to the robes shop.

Two hours later, the Potter finished their shopping. Mr Potter was wheeling around the trolley now.

"_Now_ can we go to Fortescue's?" asked James. He had been asking this question for the past two hours, and his parent's patience was running thin.

"Yes, we can go to Fortescue's" snapped Mrs Potter.

"I want Firewhisky flavour!" said James eagerly.

Mr Potter ruffled his son's hair. "Not today, mate. Wait til you turn 17. I'll take you down to the Hog's Head myself and shout you a couple."

James eyes shone. "_Really_?" he asked.

Catching his wife's diapproving glare, Mr Potter changed the subject. "I'll be having a scoop of blood flavour, I think."

Mrs Potter went to buy the icecreams while James and Mr Potter found a table to sit at.

James asked his parents questions about Hogwarts and they answered as best as they could.

Finally, Mrs Potter checked her watch. "It's 4:30. I think we should leave now."

And so the Potter family Apparated away from Diagon Alley.


	2. On The Hogwarts Express

"And here we are," announced Mr Potter. "Platform 9 ¾. I'll go first, then you follow me, then Mum will go on after you, okay Son?"

James nodded nervously.

Mr Potter turned to face the barrier between Platform 9 & 10, and ran towards it. James closed his eyes, steeling himself for the _"Crash!"_ that he was bound to hear. There was no sound. Even though he'd been to Hogsmeade many times, he never had to go through the barrier. He went by Side-Along Apparition.

"Run and close your eyes if you're scared," whispered Mrs Potter to James, for there was many people from Hogwarts standing around, waiting for James to go already.

James nodded, and gulped. Then closed his eyes and ran as fast as he could at the barrier.

About two seconds later, he opened his eyes. In front of him was the scarlet Hogwarts Express. There was something majestic-looking about the train, and he stared at it in awe.

Mr Potter grinned at his son. "Made it through okay then, eh?"

Mrs Potter emerged through the barrier. "5 minutes to depart. James, take care, okay? Don't leave the castle at night, listen to your teachers, and study hard."

James felt unexpectedly miserable as he looked up at his mother, whose eyes were tearing up; and his father, who put a comforting arm around her.

"Bye, Mum and Dad," James said. Mrs Potter grabbed him into a tight hug and held on for a few seconds.

Mr Potter gave James a one-armed hug. "And don't talk to any girls, okay?" he joked.

James managed a weak smile. "I'd better get on the train now. One minute til it leaves."

He walked into the train just as the door closed, and before he went to find a seat, he stood at the window near the door until his parents were out of sight.

James sighed. He should go and find somewhere to sit now. As he walked along the train, he saw groups of people sitting in their compartments, laughing and joking with each other, as if they'd known each other for years. He didn't know anyone here because all of his friends were Muggles.

James jumped as he heard a roar of laughter coming out of the compartment he just walked past. He paused, and listened at the door, because the curtains were covering the window.

"Yeah, and he has this really ugly greasy black hair, and his name is Severus," someone said from inside the compartment.

Just then someone drew the curtains from inside the compartment. James jumped back in surprise. He saw three boys, probably his age, sitting inside the compartment, their faces reflecting his surprise.

"Uh, sorry," James muttered, feeling embarassed. "I was just walking past, and I heard someone shout, so I—"

"Don't worry about it," said one of the boys. "Do you wanna sit with us?" He moved closer to the window to make room for James.

James sat down next to him.

"I'm Remus Lupin," said the boy. Remus looked like the kind of guy who James could easily be friends with. He had one of his schoolbooks out and James could see that he was halfway through it.

"I'm James Potter," said James. I don't know anyone here, so I was feeling kinda lost."

"Lucky you found us then, eh?" said another boy. "Oh, I'm Sirius Black, by the way." Sirius was a rather goodlooking boy, who, it appeared to James, looked kind of haughty and proud, sort of like he was very well looked after.

"And this is Peter Pettigrew," said Sirius, in a bored voice. Peter Pettigrew was a tiny boy, who resembled a rodent.

"So, er, what were you guys just talking about?" asked James, curiously.

"Just some ugly git I passed on the train," said Sirius, distastefully. "I hope he goes in Slytherin."

"I hope I get into Gryffindor" said James. His parents had explained to him how the House system worked, that day in Diagon Alley.

"Do you?" asked Remus. "So do we three," he motioned towards himself, Sirius and Peter.

"Being in Gryffindor would be the _greatest_ honour, I reckon," said Sirius. "My whole family's been in Slytherin." He mimed vomiting.

Remus and James chuckled, while Wormtail screeched with laughter and fell off his chair, still laughing.

James looked at Remus and Sirius, bewildered. "Mate," he said to Sirius, "You're funny and everything, but not THAT funny," he pointed to Peter, who was writhing on the ground, still laughing.

"You'll have to forgive our little friend here," said Sirius. "He adores me. He thinks I'm God, or something." This made Peter stop laughing.

"Why do you talk to me like that! I'm supposed to be your friend, you moron, you—"

He stopped at the look on Sirius' face. "Say one more word, and I'll jinx you as soon as I learn how to," he said.

James felt uncomfortable at this scene, so he looked out the window. He saw a boy walking down the aisle of the train. The boy had greasy black hair, and he looked at James like he was the one who had taken away his shampoo.

"Hey Sirius," he said.

"Is he that Snivellus guy you were talking about before?" he pointed to the ugly boy, who was coming closer.

Sirius glanced at the window, then threw his head back and laughed. "Snivellus!" he shouted. "That's _excellent!_"

"Sorry," said James. "I forgot his name, but I knew it started with an 'S'."

Sirius grinned at Remus, who rolled his eyes. Peter took to staring at the the three boys.

Sirius stood and opened the compartment door. "Hey, _Snivellus!"_ he yelled.

The boy named Severus looked around, and when he saw that Sirius was talking to him, stomped over to him.

"WHAT?" Severus bellowed.

"Just wanted to have a friendly chat," said Sirius, conversationally. "So, tell me, my greasy haired friend, are you going to put a spell on your hair to make it nice and shiny once we get to Hogwarts, or do you prefer being a filthy, unhygienic wart?"

"SHUT UP!" This did not come from Severus, which surprised Sirius, and Severus too, for that matter. Walking up beside Severus was a girl with dark red hair and mesmerising green eyes. Those eyes were filled with fury.

"Ah, of course, Lily Evans," said Sirius. "Come to save Snivellus' neck again? What is this, the 1000th time now?"

"Why don't you just leave us alone?" demanded Lily.

"Correct me if I'm mistaken," said Sirius, "But shouldn't _I _be saying that to _you_?"

"Sirius." This time it was Remus who spoke. "Just let it go, mate. Well, it was nice meeting you Lily," he said. Lily looked rather taken aback at being spoken to politely by someone who she thought was a moron, seeing how Sirius definitely was.

Severus stomped away grumpily. Lily looked awkward standing there. "Uh, I should probably go." And she turned to go back to Severus.

"Wait," said James, suddenly. Lily turned around, eyebrows raised.

"Uh, I, uh, haven't introduced myself to you yet. I'm Pames Jotter. Uh, I mean James Potter. Yes, that's it. James. Potter. And you are? Oh, of course, you're Lily, right? Well, uh, anyway, it was nice meeting you. Bye!"

Lily looked as if she didn't know what to make of this strange introduction, and she said nothing. Instead she gave a small wave to everyone except Sirius, and walked away.

As soon as James closed the door, the compartment erupted with laughter. "Wow, that was _smooth_!" gasped Sirius.

"Shut up," said James, feeling his face burn with embarassment.

"Nice to meet you, _Pames_," said Remus, and the laughter grew even louder.

Their laughter was so loud, that they didn't hear a lady come up to their compartment, wheeling a trolley full of wizarding sweets. It was only when she yelled, "Anything from the FUCKING trolley?!", that they heard her.

"Oops," said Remus, as he took out his money bag and opened the compartment door.

James' mouth fell open at the assortment of lollies and other junk food on the trolley. "I want two of everything," he said to the lady, and handed her a handful of Galleons, Sickles and Knuts.

For the rest of the way to Hogwarts, James and his new friends chatted excitedly about Hogwarts, and about what spells and potions they might learn. Remus, of course, contributed to the conversation the most, seeing as he had already read most of his schoolbooks.


End file.
